U.S., Singapore Agree to Cooperate on Math and Science

Just as mathematics textbooks from Singapore have built a following
among educators in America, the Southeast Asian nation is looking to
the United States for models of science curricula.

The United States has many examples in which students learn
scientific concepts through activities and experiments designed to
demonstrate those principles, Singapore's top school official said last
week.

Those are the kinds of ideas the 500,000-student national education
system is hoping to infuse into its science curriculum, according to
Minister of Education Teo Chee Hean.

"There is a lot of innovation and creative practice in the United
States," Mr. Teo said in an interview last week. "There is very good
practical and experienced- based learning for students in science."

Mr. Teo traveled here to sign a memorandum of understanding with
Secretary of Education Rod Paige in which Singapore and the United
States agreed to help each other improve math and science
education.

The six-page document says the two countries will compare their math
and science curricula, share effective practices in teacher preparation
and professional development, and seek ways to raise student
achievement in the subjects.

"Singapore's students score among the highest in the world in
mathematics and science," Mr. Paige said in a statement about the
agreement, "and there is much we can learn about its system of
education which leads to such high achievement."

Hands-On Interest

In the first formal event in the new relationship, officials from
Singapore's Ministry of Education last week conducted seminars at the
Department of Education describing their country's mathematics
curriculum to U.S. educators.

Singapore's math textbooks have intrigued American educators since
the nation outscored the rest of the world in an international test of
4th and 8th graders' mathematics knowledge. The country's 8th graders
again topped the world when the tests were given at that grade level in
1999.

Since the first results from the 1995 Third International
Mathematics and Science Study were released in 1996, American educators
have started to purchase Singaporean math programs for public and
private schools. ("U.S.
Schools Importing Singaporean Texts," Sept. 27, 2000.) More than
100 elementary schools in the United States are using Singaporean
textbooks, according to singaporemath.com, the Oregon City, Ore.-based
distributor of the books.

Singapore's performance in science, however, is not as strong in the
early grades. On the 1995 TIMSS, the country's 4th graders fell in the
middle of the pack. But in the 1995 TIMSS and its 1999 repeat, the
country's 8th grade science scores were at the top of the scale.

Because curriculum decisions are made locally in the United States,
Mr. Teo said, Americans have devised a wide range of programs, many of
which he called "exciting, interesting, and accessible."

One science education expert said Singapore's interest in U.S.
science education is not surprising.

"The folks from Singapore have been very interested in how you
educate for entrepreneurship and creativity," said Senta A. Raizen, the
director of the National Center for Improving Science Education, based
in Washington.

American schools, she said, excel at hands-on science activities in
which students see scientific principles at work, especially in the
early grades.

Math Tinkering

While Singapore will be looking to America for bold ideas in science
education, the Asian country will be tinkering with its mathematics
curriculum, Mr. Teo said.

Singapore will incorporate new topics into its math program that
emphasize the application of math skills, he said.

"It's a slight shift in emphasis," he said. "We want to maintain the
rigor in our system."

The pact between the United States and Singapore formally starts
Oct. 1 and will lapse Dec. 31, 2005.

In addition to working jointly on curricula, Mr. Teo said, he hopes
the agreement will yield teacher exchanges between the countries.

Vol. 22, Issue 3, Page 10

Published in Print: September 18, 2002, as U.S., Singapore Agree to Cooperate on Math and Science

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